a few weeks ago, julie & i attended this really wonderful talk at the 92nd st Y tribeca with eleven madison park (EMP) chef daniel humm & general manager will guidara that was guided by frank bruni. EMP is my favorite non-asian restaurant in NYC, so this event was very insightful as to the history of the restaurant under the guidance of chef humm & will guidara, and of course, frank bruni led the discussion in his very poignant and charismatic way. chef humm & will also divulged info about their new venture - The NoMad Hotel - a hotel/restaurant with the opulence and grandeur of old world Europe where the hotel is the go-to for staying, eating and hanging.
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| meeting chef humm & will guidara at 92nd st Y tribeca |
with major EMP craving (and no free samples...not even granola), i hurried home post-talk and made a reservation for my next free night. the next week, while perusing my usual news outlets (facebook, twitter, grub street), i realized the NoMad was opening the same week as our EMP ressie! despite my general opposition to gambling on brand-new restaurants (see Neta review, sigh), i figured NoMad wouldn't experience that typical awkward period with the EMP men at the helm.
luckily, i secured a reservation at NoMad during their opening week (and promptly cancelled my EMP res - save for another time!). [aside: the night before our dinner, chef jose andres (minibar, jaleo, etc.) tweeted about NoMad with a photo; i was so excited, i forwarded the pic and his tweet to my girlfriends. but then chef andres TWEETED ME BACK something related to my twitter profile... he looked me up!! it was a glorious moment that i will not soon forget.]
we love pre-game, so we organized pre-drinks at NoMad's bar; when i arrived, julie & lindsay were at the bar, midway through their 2nd cocktail, and i had just missed chef wylie dufresne (WD-50). our bartender, Will, was quick to oblige me with a "Bartender's Choice" cocktail after discussing my likes (gin) & dislikes (sweet). while we sipped, the delicious aroma of fried chicken would intermittently waft by, and we knew this would be a must-have as a starter.
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| julie with will, the bartender |
we spent some extra time at the bar to enjoy Will's company & cocktails; this was perfect timing, not only because our 4th friend, sylvia, arrived just as we were being seated but because we were all ready for a(nother) round of cocktails. the menu definitely had an EMP familiarity (but a la carte), but the big disappointment was that the fried chicken that we smelled while at the bar is a BAR-ONLY dish!!
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| dinner menu |
we started with two bites - the radishes & sweetbreads. i was more curious about the butter-dipped radishes than excited, but when they arrived, my excitement manifested. it was like butter-flavored magic shell, coating crunchy radishes, served with a side of salt (fine, fancy salt - fleur de sel). amazing.
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| butter-dipped radishes with fleur de sel |
our server, eve, described the croustillants as similar to "spring rolls" (she seemed mortified uttering those words aloud and even wanted to take them back). they were very light, even though fried and stuffed with diced sweetbreads. the only similarity to a spring roll was in appearance - i tasted not a single veggie inside, and to be frank, the sweetbread flavor was muted by the "croustillant".
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| sweetbreads croustillant with parsley |
just before our appetizer course arrived, we were brought NoMad's own focaccia bread. holy jeez... the bread. focaccia topped with thinly sliced fingerling potatoes and spring onions served on this mini butcher block with a giant steak-knife-like serrated knife... NoMad's answer to EMP's gougeres... and a major success. i stopped counting after loaf #3.
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| house focaccia |
our next course - appetizers... the first was tagliatelle with crab which was stunning and screamed SPRING. golden pasta was the perfect nest for the white & pink king crab sprinkled with chives. i loved this dish.
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| tagliatelle with king crab, meyer lemon & black pepper |
a lusciously smooth & creamy foie gras surrounded tete de cochon and was prepared torchon-style topped with some form of persillade and decorated with radishes and edible flowers. very rich but well balanced with the clean crisp radish slices, greens and herb topping.
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| foie gras torchon with tete de cochon, radishes & nasturtium |
our final appetizer, the bone marrow, had croutons that were drenched in bone marrow, sitting atop more bone marrow in the bone, then broiled. the anchovy gave it an extra depth, but indetectable if you weren't looking for it. although i prefer minetta tavern's flinstone-sized bone marrow that i can scoop out with a spoon, this was a creative riff on a typical bone marrow appetizer.
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| bone marrow gratinee with parsley, shallots & anchovy |
at this point, cocktails emptied, we needed wine. (re-)enter peter, the sommelier. the wine list is pretty massive, so i told him to go crazy (with a little guidance in terms of price point, food pairing), and he beelined to nebbiolo grapes and chose the 2005 rocche dei brovia barolo. a fantastic choice with deep red color, a touch fruity and floral on the nose, but balanced earthiness, fruit and volume without heaviness on the tongue... it was really fantastic. i recommend this wine (and peter) to everyone!!
while we were sniffing and sipping the wine, eve brought around our trussed roast chicken for two with very well-browned skin and garnished with rosemary, decoratively sitting in a cast-iron mini-roasting pan before they carved it up.
we had to get the suckling pig - chef humm does wonders with a pig - and this one did not disappoint. similar to the suckling pig he's had on the many different incarnations of the EMP menu, the pork meat was confited in duck fat and pressed into a square with a crispy top and served with jus, veggies & dried fruit.
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| suckling pig confit with dried apricots, onions & wild greens |
the duck is another "must" - if you've ever had the whole duck at EMP, you know how extraordinary it is - and again, chef humm serves another winner with two thick slices of roasted duck, perfectly cooked to medium rare, skin glazed & crispy, garnished with dandelion greens, roasted apple and cipollini onions (we think), faintly spiced with an indian curry blend.
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| duck roasted with apples, dandelion & vadouvan |
and finally, back to the chicken... this was a rare choice for me, as chicken is my least favorite meat, but since this was chef humm's chicken, we took the risk... which paid off. stuffed with a brioche, foie gras & black truffle butter under the skin of the breast, these flavors melded with the breast, creating moist, bursting with flavor white meat under a crispy skin. on the flip side, the dark meat was braised in a brown butter hollandaise served in a separate pot - almost like haute comfort food. two completely different chicken dishes rendered from one bird... leave it to chef humm to surprise me even with chicken!
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| roasted chicken breast (served with white asparagus) |
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| dark meat with brown butter hollandaise |
let's just skim over the dessert & cheese portion of dinner. eve seemed to be lost when asked what kind of cheese they had (her actual response: "i think they're swiss, but i'm drawing a blank."). we had two desserts - the carrot cake and she surprised us with the "milk & honey" - but neither really brought any excitement to our table.
what did get us excited was returning to the bar for more cocktails. this time we sat in the "gin section" and met another bartender, jessica, who was awesome. she made this wonderful cocktail, the martinez, for me, which she described as the "predecessor to the martini". it was punchy but not overwhelmingly boozy for post-dinner.
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| the martinez! |
we also had the good fortune of meeting Leo Robitschek, the bar manager, who was disconcerted after he heard the issues we had with eve. and to make up for it, he brought us a double helping of the bar-only fried chicken, gratis! this is what fried chicken should be like - super moist, well flavored with a little kick and crispy crunchy fried and a spiced yogurt dipper. the best fried chicken i've ever had - it was leaps & bounds better than momofuku's fried chicken. i was just sorry lindsay had to leave after dinner because she missed some damn good chicken!
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| chicken fried with chili, lime & yogurt (bar-only) |
final note: the bar & lounge area are on a first-come, first-served basis, and while there are only a few barstools (10 or 12), there are some high tables in the bar area to imbibe. there is also a large lounge area where they do bottle service. pricing is typical NYC bottle service; however, the mixers served are typical of only this detail-oriented crew. instead of orange and cranberry juice, you'll get mixers specially created that pair with the bottle you've chosen. LOVE.
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| lounge |
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| lounge wall lined with books - hi syl! |
girls' nights out (GNO) are the best and enjoying it at the nomad made it that much more special. i haven't been able to stop talking about the dinner since we went one week ago. all i can say is GO. NOW. and don't be surprised if you see us there!
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| love my girls - i should've photoshopped lindsay in |
1170 broadway between 27/28th sts
new york, ny 10001
347/472.5660 (dining reservations)
or on opentable
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